Spare Parts

Synopsis

Documentary series about the brutal, bloody and dangerous history of surgery continues with a look at the development of transplant surgery, from a Nazi sympathiser to the latest miraculous life- and limb-saving operations.

These days, transplant surgery saves thousands of lives every year and almost everything, from heart to eyes, can be replaced. But in the beginning, transplants killed rather than cured, because surgeons didn't understand that they were taking on one of the most efficient killing systems we know of - the human immune system.

Credits

Presenter

Michael Mosley

Producer

Claudia Lewis

Producer

Hannah Liptrott

Broadcasts

1. Wed 3 Sep 2008
   21:00
   BBC Four
2. Thu 4 Sep 2008
   00:10
   BBC Four
3. Thu 4 Sep 2008
   22:00
   BBC Four
4. Fri 5 Sep 2008
   03:00
   BBC Four
5. Sat 18 Jul 2009
   22:00
   BBC Two (except Northern Ireland (Analogue), Wales (Analogue))